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411cc Royal Enfield Himalayan in U.S. Market Next Summer at $4,499 (with video)

The single-cylinder, 411cc Royal Enfield Himalayan will be available in the United States next Summer at an MSRP of $4,499. Although larger in displacement than some of its 250cc/300cc rivals (such as the Kawasaki Versys-X 300), the Himalayan is designed for low-end torque not peak horsepower, and thus makes just a claimed 24.5 horsepower at 6,500 rpm and 23.6 foot/pounds of torque at 4,250 rpm.

Royal Enfield finally put a balance shaft in this single-cylinder engine, and it reportedly runs quite smoothly (as opposed to other RE single-cylinder models).

Weight is claimed to be 420 pounds wet (4 gallon gas tank full) – pretty reasonable given the spec sheet. With a dirt-worthy 21″ front wheel (17″ rear) and long travel suspension (200 mm in front and 180 mm in rear), it should meet RE’s design brief for a bike that can go virtually anywhere.

Seat height is reasonable for an adventure bike at 31.5″, and the Himalayan still provides 9″ of ground clearance.

A five-speed transmission with chain final drive will be pushed along by the big single that gets fuel injection for the U.S. market.

The 411cc Himalayan will eventually get a big brother sporting the 648cc parallel-twin found in REs two new road models, the Interceptor and the Continental GT. By the way, those road-going 650s should also show up in the U.S. next year priced in the neighborhood of $7,000.

Below is a video for the single-cylinder Himalayan, followed by the spec sheet.

84 Comments

I read some of the RE posts. Does not sound good at all. Sort of agrees with the things I have heard/read about these bikes.
One of our local motorcycles dealerships (Honda, Suzuki bikes) has started selling SSR bikes. These look great and carry the Benelli name. However, we know that this is not the Benelli that made the name famous. Reviews on these are not that great either. I think I will stick with my Honda. Buy Japanese!

These bike are going to be a hit. The price is right, and the design is simple. People like this. In a day where everything is getting so complicated these Enfields are very attractive. If they sell anything like the 500 Classics they are going to be just fine. I can’t wait to get a hold f the 650 GT. You don’t sell 650,000 bikes building shit like some here suggest, who have never even seen one in the flesh let alone ride one. I do believe they have a great business model. Affordable classic styled bikes.

I used to have a Honda XL350. If that was good enough, so is this. I imagine that, since RE will be producing millions of these, they will know right away what needs fixing. I think people in the US just expect too much and aren’t prepared to maintain a vehicle to keep it in good condition.

If Honda or Yamaha made this bike at this price, it would sell like hotcakes. The problem for Royal Enfield is that they have terrible reliability in a bike that MUST have it. And low power output vs heavy weight. If this thing had an XR400 engine, it would be a winner. The seat height is great, the suspension travel is ideal for this kind of bike, as is the ground clearance and basic practicality.

I agree, with a price tag 1/3 of what is listed. For almost $5K, you could get a really nice used bike with that kind of cash. This has nothing outstanding going for it. Old looking, heavy, slow, unreliable.

I’ll be parking a white one in my garage. It’ll be for occasional adventures with the kids (one at a time, for you literal folks). This way I can’t go fast even if I want to. Up Santiago peak. Back roads to Palomar. Big Bear. Can’t wait! I bet it’ll run like a top, but if it doesn’t, well then I get to play mechanic, open a beer, listen to some tunes and chill in the garage with dirty hands. And with kids here, too…except the beer. There’s just something about this design. Every line is right. Really. Kinda strange double front fender, but that’s it. And the history of the brand just resonates with me. Fun too ride slow, and fun to look at and dream. I’m IN!

Great, keep us posted on how it goes, or not. I have been following the progress of this bike in India since its inception and I really want to like it. But, owners are not giving it favourable reviews in many many cases.

I’ve been to the Himalayas on a 500 RE with FI. Low power, good torque, 19″ on both ends. We broke a couple (wheels, chains, sprockets) but spares are readily available. I swear, the small shops could build one from scratch if needed. We went over 18,000 feet. Always started, always rolled. The trip was a blast, but I’d rather have a more modern bike, as in the suggested CB500X Honda.

420 lbs. isn’t terribly reasonable for a 400cc dual sport. A road bike, yes, I’d buy that. But there are a lot of options that are both lighter and more powerful. The price is fairly budget, but I wouldn’t ride this out of my cell phone service area.

As I have traveled around the USA it too seems to be 3rd world in so many ways & places; poverty, inequality, crime, shacks & mobile homes abound. But all that has little to do with an Indian made motorcycle. India is actually struggling to improve its society and those at Enfield do seem to make incremental improvements. Maybe the market is there for them to succeed whereas in USA not as likely. Those Enfields have been around a long time in India so they do not seem to be a huge failure. I think there will always be a place for simpler retro styled and yes even low performance motorcycles.

Enfield Local success = tariffs. India makes a good case for American exceptionalism. I work in IT/ Software development …so just about everyone I deal with is from the subcontinent. They can’t get away from there fast enough….. Improving our country starts locally (thanks, Tip) not electing these morons to the oval office.

Ha ha. My promise to everyone who buys this stuff is that I will stop to help with repair, as I have in the past. …and I won’t say “I told you so” if you won’t call my amazing modern bike an appliance.

Back to REAL adventure bikes! Not the 600lb, automated, $20000 behemoths that any one can ride the paved roads to Alaska with the help of your sat phone, GPS tracker and medivac

Real adventure is taking a simple bike to new and interesting places…some time difficult! This looks to me like the real raw bikes of the 50s and 60s where adventure was where you made it. Real men and women!

Lots of pseudo adventures here already whining that the bike is not as reliable as a refrigerator! Whimps!

LOL! All this manly adventure talk from you, until you mention that there has to be a dealership IN VERMONT before you test ride one. There are what, like 10 states within a day’s drive for you? But I guess that’s too much adventure…

I don’t know the product line and the dealer network seems to be thin in North America but in the 1960’s it was that way for the five Japanese motorcycle companies breaking into the market. All ADV motorcycles have a certain ugliness when presented to the general public, but myself I guess beauty is more than skin deep. I like the look of this motorcycle and the price point is sharp. The engine at 25 ponies and 5 speed box will struggle on expressways, but as advertised that is what we are trying to avoid. So call it a retro ADV motorcycle and like owning a Ural enjoy yourself and fulfill the mission of life.

This bike looks great…like all RE’s. If the new engine is smooth enough for 65 on the highway that would also be great. Nobody does old school better than these guys. I’m looking forward to more info once they’re out and on the road!

Looks like a motorcyle should look! When the old mill gives out, get a KLR or XR or DR engine and pop it in. No worries mate. Or go buy an Origami 1757 supercharged crossplane triple if that’s your thing. Kudos to Enfield for bringing them in.

Better yet, just buy a KLR, XR, or DR in the first place, and skip mincing about with engine transplants, and have a superior ADV/off-road/on-road bike in every single quantifiable characteristic to begin with. 🙂

The largest motorcycle manufacturer in the world (?) wants to seriously penetrate the US market. What put the Japanese in the market was really cheap really reliable (for the time) machines. RE has none of these advantages, being a seriously bad rapped manufacturer that many will walk across the street to avoid. Many choices near this cost from the Big Three and BMW. Good Luck, RE.

Reminiscent of a second generation r80gs in profile.
It’d be a shame if this doesn’t have reliability and simplicity going for it. My 30,000 mile experience of a 2006 R1200GS Adventure would have me going towards something like this, as when the Adv broke down (and it certainly did. Several times), it was a lap top underwritten fix required.
A bigger maintenance requirement is somewhat offset if you can actually do it yourself. But you still don’t expect that with a 21st century machine, when materials science should’ve eliminated most of the old issues.

I have a 24 year old XR650L that has had the crap beat out of it since day one. In stock form it has considerably more hp and torque (mine is hopped up quite a bit) better suspension/brakes, weighs 100 pounds less and gets me 45mpg. With the mods it dyno’d 45hp at the rear wheel. The RE has a much lower seat height, but I never knew that even with my 30 inch inseam my seat was high until I started visiting this site. From all the negative comments I read about RE, I think my old 650 will still be running when that RE craps out.

Talk about inspiring scenery……. Of course, at Himalayan altitudes, this low compression, air cooled thing must be down to moped horsepower…

Aside from that, and holding possible reliability issues aside, it’s a bike more in the original GS tradition than pretty much anything being sold as ADV bikes today. It’s not a dirtbike meant to be jumped and wheelied around the world in front of cameras, by Redbull drunk (and sponsored) Youtube heroes. Just a regular bike made for carrying lots of stuff, with some added clearances to make getting down rougher stretches of road, and perhaps the occasional trail at low speeds, possible. And a bike where most stuff is fixable, either with an on board toolkit, or by pretty much any mechanic able to fix anything with an engine.

It has all the charm, build-quality, and support you’d expect from a third-world product. I think the US will need to decline much further before there will be a market for a junk bike from a junk brand like that one.

I have been reading reports from owners of this bike in India. It is essentially a non-reliable, poorly constructed piece of junk, with piss poor backing from Royal Enfield Service centers. I had to chuckle at one of the standing jokes from India…Q: Where is your bike?? A: Him-a-layan over there.

I used to think that about other REs. But after looking at a few up close and riding one, I realized that it was the other way around. Granted that was probably five years ago, but I imagine that is still the case as they were probably about five decades behind back then. Hard to make up 50 years of needed progress in five.